Europe faces risk of freezing: Russia fails to reach agreement with Ukraine!

Russian President Putin, in a statement to the Russian state channel Rossiya-24, evaluated the process regarding the contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe, which is set to expire at the end of the year.

Stating that Ukraine needed to take steps before July 2024 to extend the contract, Putin said, "As far as I know, no effort has been made by the Ukrainian side to carry out work in this direction."

"IT APPEARS UKRAINE WILL NOT DO THIS"

Stating that Russia does not refuse to ship Russian gas, including via the Ukrainian route, Putin said, "However, it appears that Ukraine will not do this. Ukrainian natural gas officials have reported that they will not extend the transit contract with the Russian side. This means they are closing this route."

Pointing out that they could continue to ship Russian gas to Europe, Putin used the expression, "There are other routes through which Russian gas can be delivered to European consumers, and we are not refusing to make these shipments."

UKRAINE TRANSIT CONTRACT EXPIRING

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had announced that the agreements enabling the flow of Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine would not be extended beyond 2024.

According to data released by the Ukrainian administration for the end of 2023, the amount of Russian gas transported to Europe through the country via pipelines decreased by 28.4 percent last year compared to 2022, falling to 14.6 billion cubic meters.

In a statement on September 5, Putin had said that if Ukraine did not extend the gas contract, shipments via TurkStream could increase.

The intergovernmental agreement signed on December 30, 2019, between Ukraine's national natural gas company Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom company provides for the transit of 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Europe via Ukraine for the 2021-2024 period.

News Source: AA